Gisela Boeck

Paul Walden (1863-1957)

Latvian, Russian or German? Organic chemist, physical chemist or historian?

online lecture by Gisela Boeck on November 8th, 2022, 3-4 p.m

Moderator: Hans-Uwe von Grabowski

In the lectures on organic chemistry, first and second order nucleophilic substitution reactions are discussed. When the second-order substitution occurs at a carbon atom that is a stereogenic center, the configuration is reversed, which is often described as folding an umbrella. This phenomenon has entered the literature as Walden inversion because it was first described by the scholar Paul Walden. However, his main area of work was physical chemistry, and he is sometimes celebrated as the father of ionic liquids. But even in the history of chemistry one encounters the name of Walden, who concealed his origins from a Latvian peasant family and presented himself as a Baltic German. In addition to an appreciation of his achievements in chemistry and a critical examination of his historical contributions, the biography of this chemist is presented, who experienced tsarist Russia, briefly independent Latvia, Germany in the Weimar Republic and under National Socialism and finally the Federal Republic of Germany.

"You will have received my little nuclear swindle"

Julius Lothar Meyer (1830-1895) - His life and his work

online lecture by Gisela Boeck on July 6th, 2021, 2-3 p.m

Moderator: Uwe von Grabowski

In the lecture , the life and work of the lesser-known chemist Meyer will be particularly appreciated. The individual stages on Meyer's path to the recognition of periodicity will be in the foreground of the explanations. His drafts of (partially unpublished) classification systems from 1864, 1868 and 1869 to 1872 will be discussed.

Gisela Boeck

access to the lecture


Eberhard Ehlers will be happy to send you the link to the meeting. No further registration is required.

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last modified: 08.10.2022 16:40 H from W.Gerhartz